But it's okay, it's alright, I'm so fresh yes, I'm so fly

“C-Cinder,” Nick stammered, staring in surprise at the girl in front of him. He didn’t expect to see her here… and he didn’t expect to see her here.

The latina was a mess. Her hair was messier than usual, and her eyes had bags under them like she’d struggled to get to sleep. It brought to mind the image of the girl who Nick had woken up in bed with the other day, when he couldn’t tell which one it was.

It was obvious right now, though.

“Hey,” Cinder greeted him with a blunt grunt. Her expression was as furious as usual, but her tone was almost… casual.

Maybe she wasn’t mad at him? Nick could hope for that, at least.

“Good morning, uh, w-would you like to come in?” Nick suggested. “Mary could whip something up if you haven’t had breakfast yet…”

Cinder shook her head. “No. I’m good. Not hungry.”

Her stomach gurgled slightly, showing that to be the lie it was. But before Nick could say anything the latina narrowed her eye, and he froze.

“…Okay, no breakfast then,” he agreed. He sensed that there was another motivation behind Cinder not wanting to come into the Master’s Suite. “So what’s up? You need something? I was just gonna go down and join the others in the Banquet Hall if you wanted to-”

“No,” Cinder said again, even sharper. “Don’t want to see the others right now. Mierda… so fucking stupid…”

So she wanted to talk to him, so much so she’d come up to the Master’s Suite, but she wasn’t going to say why?

Then again, was Cinder even the one who came up here? Nick considered. Maybe Ella wanted to see me for something but she retreated back into her mind for Cinder instead.

“…Again, if there’s something I can help you with, just tell me,” Nick said, trying to be as gentle as possible. “But if not, I really need to get going…”

He tried to walk around her, but Cinder sidestepped to put herself between him and the elevator again.

This was starting to get really old.

“Cinder-”

“Just stay there, okay!?” She snapped, stomping her foot. “Stay right there! For… for five minutes, at least!”

What?! Why?

Nick took a deep breath, but before he could say anything…

“Please!” She spat out. It looked like doing so went over about as well as gargling sewer sludge. Cinder made a nauseous expression, but the desperation in her voice gave Nick pause.

“O-okay,” he relented with a nod. “If that’s what you want, I can wait five minutes.”

Those five minutes were an eternity. It was obvious that Cinder was trying to work up the courage to say something, but like a child being **** to confess when they did something bad she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

After a lot longer than five minutes passed, Nick decided he’d given her enough grace, and tried to push the issue as gently as he could.

“Cinder-”

“Are you upset with Ella about something!?” Cinder exclaimed. She let out a sigh of relief and slumped over like she’d just set down something very heavy that she’d been carrying.

Nick stared blankly at her for a moment.

“Uh… excuse me? What?” He wasn’t sure what to make of what she’d just said. “Upset with… Ella?”

Cinder flinched and shifted awkwardly. “She… she thinks… she thinks that she did something to make you upset on your date together,” she mumbled. “And she’s too afraid to face you because of it… so I fucking had to…”

Nick blinked. “…She said this to you?”

“No, don’t be fucking stupid!” Cinder kicked the wall in frustration since she couldn’t actually touch Nick himself. “She didn’t have to say anything if she could! I can just feel it, okay!? I know when she’s feeling anxious and apprehensive, and it’s all your fault!”

“My fault?! But I don’t-!”

“I don’t know what problem you have with Ella, but it needs to stop! Now!” Cinder demanded. “Next time she’s in control, you need to go to her, and you need to tell her that you forgive her, and you’re sorry for upsetting her! Or else there will be consequences!”

Nick had no idea what consequences those would be, but more than that, he had no idea what she was even talking about.

“Cinder, this has gotta be some misunderstanding,” Nick asserted. “I don’t have a problem with Ella! I don’t! I had a great time on our date together!”

Cinder looked taken aback for a second. Then she winced and a cloud of uncertainty and frustration appeared on her face.

“Then… it’s me. It’s something I did. Well, you can go right ahead and fuck-”

“You didn’t do anything either!” Nick interrupted. “I don’t have any issue with you, or Ella! Not from our date, okay?”

“…You don’t?” Cinder squeaked, and for a moment she looked like an ordinary girl, not the ball of resentment and rage Nick had grown to know over the last week. But it only lasted a moment and then her fierce expression returned.

Nick shook his head. “I don’t,” he promised. “I really had a lot of fun on my date with her.”

“…Even after dinner?” Cinder demanded, leaning in close to maximize the effect of her glare. “After everything I said?”

“I was fine with that, too,” Nick nodded.

“Liar! Liar! El mentiroso!” She spat, shaking her head. “Because of me, you and Ella couldn’t-! You didn’t-! …Eeeyrerrrrgh!”

She let out a wail of impotent frustration and grabbed fistfuls of her hair.

“Cinder?!” Nick cried in alarm.

“Shut up! Just shut up! Stop lying to me!” Cinder screamed, flailing her arms. She knocked a vase off the side table and it smashed to bits. “You expect me to believe that?!”

“It-it’s the truth…” Nick didn’t even know what Cinder wanted from him at this point. Shouldn’t she have been happy if the date hadn’t gone well? She was the one trying to keep him from going too fast and hurting Ella, right?

The girl in front of him was a manifestation of Ella’s frustration and her drive to fight back against the things she felt anxious about. So what was she frustrated about now?

The latina’s angry rant addressed his confusion. “Why have you been avoiding her then, huh!?” She demanded.

“Huh? Avoiding her? I haven’t-”

“You haven’t said one word to her since your date, have you?!” Cinder exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “You’ve been going off having fun with other girls, and Ella’s been left on the side of the road like some discarded-”

“It’s not that simple!” Nick cut her off. “Cinder, I have obligations to everyone in my harem! First I had to spend the day with Sylvia, then I had to spend the day with Kim! I’m sorry I didn’t have a follow-up with Ella, but I didn’t think I needed to! I really had fun on our date together, and I thought she did, too! Besides, didn’t you say she was avoiding me?”

If Nick had known that Ella had doubts and apprehension about how their date had gone, he would have said something to her, of course he would have, if he had the chance.

But now he was supposed to be a mind reader?

Cinder fumed in frustration, her tan cheeks flushed as she squirmed.

“…You… you… puta!” She exclaimed like a child. Then she turned and dashed off towards the elevator.

Nick had spent the last 5-10 minutes trying to get Cinder out of the way. But now that she was leaving, he moved to stop her.

“Cinder, wait!” He cried out, and grabbed her by the wrist. The second he touched her it was like a bolt of electricity shot through him, and he realized what a mistake he’d just made.

This wasn’t right. He had just violated Cinder’s space, even though he swore he would never do that! She had every right to call him all the worst things in the world now.

But she didn’t say anything. She didn’t even try to break away from him. The second he grabbed her she practically went limp, as if she’d given up struggling.

Which made no sense. Nick thought that the Cinder personality only existed TO put up a struggle, didn’t she? So why…

“Let me go,” Cinder asked softly. She didn’t turn to look at him. She didn’t fight back, either.

Nick let her go without hesitation. Only then did she turn to him and glare.

“Why did you do that?” She demanded, her eyes burning with furious tears. Seeing her watery gaze gave Nick pause, since there was no way Cinder would be crying, right? And at a second glance, he saw that he was correct. She no longer had that glassy sheen of a crying girl.

…Still angry, though.

“I-I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to grab you like that, honest. It was just reflex! I was trying to stop you, and I-”

“Who cares about that?!” Cinder demanded. “That’s not what I meant!”

Nick flinched and shrank back. “Then what did you mean?”

“I don’t know, okay!?”

Nick knew that the girl in front of him, whether Cinder or Ella, had serious mental problems. But she seemed even more unhinged right now. She seemed to realize that herself, judging by the look of flustered panic on her face.

“Cinder… I don’t want you to run away,” Nick said gently. He was careful about keeping a safe distance from her, just to make sure she didn’t freak out again.

“Then why are you backing away, huh?!” Cinder demanded, closing the distance between the two of them in an instant. “You say not to run away, and then you run away! Maldito hypocrito- Just… just!”

She seethed in desperation and Nick wondered if her words even had meaning at this point.

“Cinder, please, just tell me what you want,” Nick gently urged her. “I can tell you’re hurting. How can I help?”

“I don’t want to tell you!” Cinder spat. “Because then you’ll do it!”

That didn’t make any sense, but no way was Nick telling her that.

“Cinder-”

“If I tell you, and you do it, then you only do it because I told you!” Cinder ranted. “No! No way!”

That did have a twisted logic to it, Nick had to admit.

“…You’re right,” he acknowledged. “Right now, I’d say just about anything if it would help calm you down, you’re not wrong there.”

“Hah! You see?” Cinder smirked in triumph. “You don’t actually care! You’re just trying to make me feel better!”

“I do care!” Nick protested. “But I don’t know how to help you. If I didn’t care, why wouldn’t I have just let you run?”

“I don’t know! If you did care, then why did you let me go?!”

“…Let you go?”

Cinder raised her hand and waved it in his face, practically smashing her wrist against his nose. “Hello!? Excuse me?”

“You- you mean why did I let go of your arm?” Nick was thoroughly confused.

“Obviously?! What did you think!?” Cinder rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You were all ‘don’t go away’ and then you grabbed me, and then you just let me go like that!”

“You-you told me to!” Nick sputtered.

“But I didn’t think you would listen to me!” Cinder snapped. Then she flinched. Realization dawned across her face and she quickly shook her head. “Forget it! Forget I said that right now!”

“O-okay…”

“Just… stop being so difficult!” Screamed the woman who was insanely difficult. “Just tell Ella you’re sorry, and that you liked your date!”

“I- Ella isn’t here though,” he reminded her.

“So you do want me to go away, is that it?!”

“Cinder, I didn’t say that!”

“Just tell the truth already!” Cinder shook her head from side to side. “You want me to go away so Ella can come back, so you can tell her you had fun on her date today! Just admit it!”

“But Cinder, that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what I want!”

Finally she said something that actually made sense.

Again, Cinder looked like she was about to burst into tears. But she didn’t she balled up her fists, and for a moment, Nick thought she was going to attack him.

“I just… want… to go…” Cinder spat. “But I can’t. Don’t you get it? Ella’s heart… she doesn’t know what she wants, I don’t know what I want… all I know is that I feel horrible and sick, and it’s all because of you!”

She clutched her chest. “It’s not supposed to be like this… I’m not… I… Nick, please…”

Nick had never seen Cinder look so **** before. She looked up at him with begging eyes, urging him to do something. But what? Nick had no idea how he could help her, he wouldn’t even know where to start!

“Cinder… I don’t know what you want me to say,” he admitted. “I enjoyed my time with the both of you last night. Do you believe that?”

She swallowed and nodded slowly. “I-I do,” she said, her tone refreshingly even for once.

“I’d like to tell that to Ella, too,” Nick gently continued. “But if that’s going to upset you, it can wait.”

A fierce look crossed her face again. “No, it can’t,” she said firmly, the edge leaching into her voice again. “Ella’s heartbroken! I can feel it! She’s torn up as a result of your date, and she can’t wait another second! But… she’s too afraid to come out now!”

“Then what should I do?” Nick asked. “How can I help you?”

“By telling Ella how you feel.”

Somehow, Nick didn’t think that would actually improve things. There was something here he wasn’t saying, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that neither Cinder nor Ella fully understood it themselves.

And if they couldn’t… how could he?

“Cinder… do you really want that?” Nick took a guess.

She looked at him in shock… then fury.

“How could you even say that?!” She demanded. “Of course that’s what I want! I want… I want Ella, I want…”

“If I tell Ella, then that means you have to go, right?” Nick pointed out. “But you don’t want to leave. Do you… want to keep being active?”

A look of shock flickered across Cinder’s face for a moment, and then she fiercely shook her head.

“I want Ella to be happy!” She exclaimed. “That’s it! So just leave me alone!”

And then she promptly passed out in the middle of the hallway.

Nick was slow to respond, because he didn’t expect Cinder to just… collapse like that. She fell onto the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and lay there motionless for about three seconds before he could process what had just happened.

“…Cinder!” Nick exclaimed, running over to her. “Cinder! Hey! Are you okay!?”

He tried to help her up, ignoring her boundaries about contact. That wasn’t important right now, not if she had just passed out!

But by the time he managed to turn her over, she had already started to open her eyes.

“Huh… what…?” She tangle-haired latina blinked, peering up at him from past her bangs.

Then Nick felt her go stiff in his arms.

“Ah-ah!” The girl in his arms trembled like a leaf, and then started to flail, scrambling to break free. But Nick was still basically carrying her, so that wouldn’t go well. He managed to resist dropping her on the floor again, but it was a bitch and a half to get her to stand.

It wasn’t until she managed to calm down a little that he actually was able to do it. And when he did…

“Nick?”

Ella stared back at him, her face stretched in horror. “I… I…!”

“Ella,” Nick cut her off before she could say anything. “I need to talk to you. Please don’t run away.”

Ella squeezed her eyes shut tight, desperately seeking Cinder. But Cinder refused to respond. And she couldn’t exactly push past Nick and run to the elevator, either, not with how they were positioned.

Finally, she opened her eyes and looked up at him in resignation.

When she saw the gentle, worried expression on his face, she relaxed, but only slightly.

“Are you okay?” Nick asked gently.

She swallowed and nodded. “Y-yeah…”

He sighed in relief. “Good… I was worried for a second there.”

“Worried?” She questioned. “Why?”

Ella looked around the hall. This was the entryway right outside of the Master’s Suite. “How did I…?”

“Cinder,” Nick answered, and she bristled.

“Ah…”

“It’s not what you think,” he quickly clarified. “She just came to talk to me.”

“She… she did?” That didn’t sound like the Cinder Ella knew.

“She was worried about you,” he said gently. “She thought that you were really worried and worked-up about our date. You were afraid I didn’t have a good time, is that right?”

Ella swallowed, bracing herself for the worst.

“I just wanted you to know, that I really had fun with you,” Nick said. “And not just you. Cinder, too. It was a messy date, obviously, but not a bad one.”

“Really?” Ella couldn’t believe that. She stared at him, trying to process what she’d just heard. “But… everything that happened…”

“I had fun,” he said again, repeating his words from that morning in case she’d forgotten. “Especially the parts that didn’t go perfectly. Those were really enjoyable, due to all the surprise.”

For the first time, Ella looked relaxed. She sighed in relief, and leaned against the wall. “Oh… I… I was so afraid… I thought, when you didn’t come to see me after what happened, then…”

Nick shook his head. “I’m looking forward to next time, Ella. And Cinder, too, if she wants to pop in.”

Ella looked at him in alarm. “What!?”

“It-it’s just a thought,” Nick clarified. “Cinder, she’s a part of you. And if I’m going to get to know you, then I’m going to need to get to know her, too.”

“I… you’re right,” Ella admitted. “If it wasn’t for her… I would have been locked up in my room…”

She hated relying on Cinder like this. She felt furious with herself that she’d let Cinder take over and bring her here. After Cinder was the one who came out on her date, too!

Nick could see the apprehension on the poor girl’s face. “Ella… I know this isn’t my place to say, but Cinder obviously cares about you a lot,” he said. “She came all the way here, even though she was nervous herself, and confronted me with the problem. She did that for your sake, because I’ve been so distracted these last few days I didn’t even know there was a problem. And then she went back so I could talk to you. She wanted to spare you a painful conversation.”

“I know…” Ella’s eyes watered. She had a distinct feeling like she’d already cried considerably this morning, but she couldn’t remember it. “She’s always looking out for me. And you have been, too,” she added.

The admiring gaze Ella gave Nick helped warm his heart. He nodded. “Before you came, I was planning to go see the others in the Banquet Hall,” he said. “Would you like to join?”

Ella was about to reply, but before she could, her stomach started to rumble. She laughed a little. “…I guess I do,” she admitted, and the two walked to the elevator feeling considerably lighter than they had before.